Woke up at 5am with the alarm, as both Nathalie and I were due for a walk around the rim of Kings Canyon, and had to be on the shuttle bus just before 6am. I had decided then and there that I would pass on the rim walk as they kept mentioning that it would be an extreme walk that would take just over 3 hours and if you aren't fit that it will be difficult. I had fret it over a little yesterday evening, but in the end deciding against it as I knew I wasn't fit, plus I didn't want to hold everyone up. So Nathalie headed off at about quarter to 6am, while I stayed a little later as I was going on the other walk which we all had to meet up at 10 minutes to 8am.
I got dressed and ready and headed off to the shuttle bus where we made our way to Kings Canyon where we would be doing the canyon floor walk which took just over an hour. When I arrived there I got to see a group of large black cockatoo's that were in a tree just at the start of the trail. Further a long the trail we walked pass the canyon wall steps which Nathalie would've walked up, and once I saw them I knew I had made the right choice. 500 steps in that angle would have knocked me out.
A long the trail we got to see a bunch of wild bush tomato which were growing and a small termite's nest. It was a lovely trail just seeing the flora and fauna of the whole area, including ghost gum trees. Which are just like normal gum trees, but their bark is white. After the hour walk, we headed back to the start of the trail where Nathalie was waiting and had just come back from her rim walk not 5 minutes ago. She said she had a great time and got to see some amazing views. Part of me regretted it, but deep down inside I knew I wouldn't have enjoyed myself too much if I had to stop every few minutes to catch my breath.
We then headed back to the hotel to chill out a little bit before we had to pack up and head back to Ayers Rock. We turned on the TV (even though there were only a couple of TV channels), and there was the morning show. We just turned it right on time as they were showing The Presidents of the United States of America (the band) who where playing the song Peaches. Was pretty fantastic that we turned on the TV just at that time. We chilled out in our room for a bit more before we packed everything away. There really wasn't much to pack away since we had only just arrived the night before.
By 11am we were all packed and waiting for the bus to take us back to Kings Canyon Station where we would have some lunch and then also catch a different bus to take us to Ayers Rock Resort. The trip to the station seemed a lot shorter than the last time. Nathalie tried a camel burger this time, as this place is apparently well known for their camel burgers. I just had a cheeseburger as I really didn't feel like eating any camels today. I got to hear the weird accent of the same guy as last time, as I still cannot pin point his accent. It's like a mixture of New Zealand/Australian/Ireland. We also bumped to a couple who did the helicopter ride around the Kings Canyon and they said they had a fantastic time.
After about an hour the other coach arrived which Nathalie and I joined. There was only about 20 people on this bus including us so we had a lot of room to move about if we wanted to. Plus this driver seemed more enthused than the other driver. While we were on our way he even mentioned that we would be watching a movie! Just what you'd expect on a 5 hours coach ride! The movie was more of a documentary called the last of the nomads. Which was about the last two aboriginal nomads, who were lovers and kicked out of their tribe as they weren't suppose to marry one another and the woman was promised to someone else. This documentary was about the rescue of both of them, as Australia was going through a major drought at the aboriginals were worried about the couple. As excited as I was about seeing the documentary by body had a different idea and I fell asleep shortly afterwards.
When I awoke we had a rest stop to see a view of Mt Conner as well as the salt lake that was on the opposite side. To get to the viewing area (which was different to the one we had yesterday) we had to walk up a red sandy hill in about a 40 degree heat! Now I didn't feel it much as I had my joggers on, but for Nathalie who had a pair of thongs on really did feel it and couldn't stay longer. So while she headed back to the bus I took some more video and photos of the area, which is when I ended up talking to one of the guys on the bus who was from Brisbane and found out that everyone within the bus had left Ayers Rock that morning at 4am to go to Kings Canyon to do the rim walk, and then were headed back to Ayers Rock that day. He even mentioned that on the way to Kings Canyon they had managed to see a group of wild horses as well.
When we both got to the bus Nathalie and I were introduced to a few more members on the bus and we got to exchange photos and stories of what they've experienced so far. I still wouldn't have done the trip to Kings Canyon and the walk to only head back to Ayers Rock in the same day though. One thing that we all agreed on was that the prices for everything were too overly priced!
So the trip back to Ayers Rock was a lot shorter than usual, mostly due to the conversations we had on the way back. Even saw one flipped car, which I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen the day before! On the way there we also stopped at Curtin Springs which had a bar with weird letters above the bar. We were told that we were never to ask what the letters stood for as there was a heavy price to pay... and I for one didn't want to find out what the price was! Plus they also had two emu's walked about called Mongrel and Bastard. The bus driver said..."I don't know what their names are, but I'm told that if you pet them, you'll ended up yelling their names once they bite you." It seemed like a weird little place, owned by very strange people... but in a good humour kind of way. They are also looked for new staff as well... so I guess I have a back up plan if all else fails for me!
Once we finally arrived at Desert Gardens, we checked into our room again which was different from the last one we had. It also didn't have a view of Uluru which we were a little disappointed by, but weren't really complaining as we'd only be here for one night. Nathalie and I had a quick shower and changed as we were heading to the Outback Pioneer hotel where we were going to have some dinner and a few drinks. We both saw the singing walked about who had sang here a few nights ago and he was slowly setting things up and tuning his guitar. Funny thing is, that when I saw him singing a few days ago I assumed he was about 22 years old, but when he was walking up close I realised he was a lot older! One of the bad things about not carrying my glasses with me!
After being there a couple of hours, Dwayne who we'd met on the bus came over and asked us to join him and a couple of German guys who he'd made friends with before. We ended up chatting by the pool for many more hours, and before we knew it it was just after midnight. So we headed over to were the shuttle bus was and realised that we had missed the last of the shuttle bus. And looking at the road with hardly any light, my gut was telling me that there was no way that I was going to be walked back to the hotel in that! So I went to the reception and asked if there was any other way we could get to our hotel, and the hotel manager offered to drive us both back.
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